MASON-ANTS. 267 



this singular species; but we are still more interested 

 with the history which M. P. Huber has given of the 

 labours of a individual ant. " One rainy day," 

 he says, " I observed a labourer of the dark ash- 

 coloured species [Formica f us ca) digging the ground 

 near the aperture which gave entrance to the ant- 

 hill. It placed in a heap the several fragments it 

 had scraped up, and formed them into small pellets, 

 which it deposited here and there upon the nest. 

 It returned constantly to the same place, and ap- 

 peared to have a particular design, for it laboured 

 with ardour and perseverance. I remarked a slight 

 furrow, excavated in the ground in a straight line, 

 representing the plan of a path or gallery. The 

 labourer (the whole of whose movements fell under 

 my immediate observation) gave it greater depth and 

 breadth, and cleared out its borders; and I saw, at 

 length — in which I could not be deceived — that it 

 had the mtention of establishing an avenue which 

 was to lead from one of tlie stories to the under- 

 ground chambers. This path, which was about two 

 or three inches in length, and formed by a single 

 ant, was opened above, and bordered on each side 

 by a buttress of earth. Its concavity, in the form 

 of a pipe (goutiiere), was of the most perfect regu- 

 larity; for the architect had not left an atom too 

 much. The work of this ant was so well followed 

 and understood, that I could almost to a certainty 

 guess its next proceeding, and the very fragment it 

 was about to remove. At the side of the opening 

 where this path terminated was a second opening, 

 to which it was necessary to arrive by some road. 

 The same ant began and finished this undertaking 

 without assistance. It furrowed out and opened 

 another path, parallel to the first, leaving between 

 each a little wall of three or four lines in height." 

 Like the hive-bees, ants do not seem to work 



